I am looking at rebarreling the Remington 700 I just bought. Here's the rundown of barrel makers I looked at/talked to today. All barrels listed are for stainless, in the best "grade" the manufacturers offer (some only offer one grade, top-of-the-line).
Kreiger: 16 weeks, $310
Lilja: immediate delivery, $295.
Shilen: 4 weeks, $329
Hart: 6-8 weeks, $295
Douglas: 2-3 weeks, $282
I have a Kreiger barrel on my .338-06, and I love it. Unfortunately, their delivery time is a bit much. Lilja has some "in-stock" barrels, ready for immediate shipping, which is nice. The gunsmith I plan to use recommends Douglas, but I haven't heard much about them. Are they any good? The few folks I have talked to about Douglas barrels make it sound like there are not quite up to the quality of a Kreiger, Lilja, Hart, or Shilen barrel. Did I get good information? Are Douglas Air-Gauged barrels a good investment?
Douglas is just fine. THere are plenty of great guns out there wearing Douglas barrels. However, considerig the cost and timeframe Lija is probably the best deal. My personal choice if time isn't a factor would be Shilen.
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Remington 700p LTR .308, Leupold Mark 4 Tactical PR, DPMS Tactical AR-15 sling, Federal Gold Medal Match 168 gr., Federal High Energy 180 gr.
Dan, check out sinclair intl. They usually have a stock of krieger barrels. But last krieger I had fouled pretty bad. I liked the single point cut story. I since then swear by Lilja. I should have listened to my gunsmith. He shoots alot of barrel burners, like a 22-243 middlestead and it has almost no copper fouling. I am familuar with Shelen also, and seems to be a top quality barrel, so does Hart.
MY 700 custom wears a Douglas #2 24" XX barrel... i had them lap it.... you saw the target in your other thread... My 700 Mountain Rifle wears a 7mm Shilen 22" tube - non match grade - and i don't remember the contour off hand - thicker than the sporter that was on it though not as thick as the #2 Douglas... it'll print about the same as the .358 Douglas tube... Douglas has been around for A LONG Time... they are pretty easy to deal with... I used them because their leadtime was acceptable and pricing was reasonable for what i got... i cannot comment on Shilen as i had that barrel done by a local gunsmith but everything went peachy with that rebarrel and i have not been disappointed...
I have heard nothing but good things about Kreiger and Lilja.... and i wouldn't think twice about putting either tube on soemthing i was building.... personally i like to experiment and spread the wealth around
if you are going to do this.. take the time to measure the dimensions and geometry of that action and bolt... and get them trued up as well as possible before screwing on the barrel... my 700 in 35 Whelen AI began life as one of the very first 700 SPS's chambered in '06, I swear remington must have retooled recently at that time... as everything was tight, square and round...
i'd do it again in a heartbeat if i wanted a new rifle in a "non mainstream" chambering...
happy machining
J
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Douglas is just fine. THere are plenty of great guns out there wearing Douglas barrels. However, considerig the cost and timeframe Lija is probably the best deal. My personal choice if time isn't a factor would be Shilen.
I agree on the Douglas barrels. Here's a typical 100-yard, 5-shotgroup from my 6mm/284 with a Douglas premium grade barrel.
Which Barrel Maker for My New Rifle Project?
